(Yicai) Sept. 28 -- MitrAssist, a Chinese innovative cardiovascular medical device maker, has raised USD100 million in its latest financing round.

The Series C fundraiser was led by Centurium Capital and Tonghe Yucheng, the Shanghai-based company announced today. Shanghai Jiading Industrial Zone Development Group, Shanghai Jiajia Group, Hefei Haiheng Capital, Hefei Industry Investment Group, Hefei Binhu Science and Technology Venture Capital, and Anyuan Investment Fund also took part.

The proceeds will be used to facilitate the registration of clinical trials and market access for its mitral valve replacement products and polymer interventional aortic valve replacement products, complete clinical studies of other product candidates in the pipeline, and expand sales.

Founded in 2017, MitrAssist has developed products such as interventional heart valve therapy, interventional coronary drug balloon, and interventional heart failure treatment. It has research and development centers in China, Israel, and Germany.

Some investors told Yicai that there have not been many financings with a scale of hundreds of millions of dollars in the medical device field this year.

“This year, the market is unpromising, and as fundraising is difficult, we have raised only a small amount,” the founder of a cardiovascular device maker told Yicai. “It is paradoxical that good funds go to companies with good cash flow and high net profit, although their demand for financing is not so urgent.”

Another investor in medical devices said their firm is prudent to invest in completely innovative medical devices because the risk of failure is too high, and investments mainly go to medical devices that have been proven in the global market but need some improvements to match Chinese doctors’ needs.

In the future, Chinese medical innovation companies will be unable to rely on initial public offerings, Liu Daozhi, founding and managing partner of Sunland Fund, said at an industry forum. Small companies should focus on innovation and highlight one or two products, while large ones should work on platforms and acquisitions to form a good ecology, Liu added.

Editor: Futura Costaglione